Dough proofing device



Feb. 28, 1933. s. SCHIFF DOUGH PROOFI NG DEVI CE Filled Jan. 24, 1931 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 28, 1933. a SCHIFF 1,899,246

DOUGH PROOFING DEVICE Filed Jan. 24, 1931' 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 28, 1933. SCHIFF 1,899,246

DOUGH PROOF'ING DEVICE Filed Jan. 24, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 gwuemtoc Patented Feb; 28,- 1933 I ,SIGMUND scmn'g-or lcmmm; c1110, AssIGNoa reruns; DAY contusion 1 CINCINNATL'OHIQACORPOBATIONOFOHIO -nouerrrrnporme nnvmn Application filed nnuar jze esr serial No. "511,003;

The' present inventionfrelates improvementsin dough proofin'gjdevices and has for an1 object the provision of an automatic proofer that carries lumps of "dough from an intake throughfaproofing t'raveland discharges them with' uniformity and without the lumps.

\ Another obj ect-is'to provide acontinuously moving series of flexible r carrier loops and means wher'ebysaidloops' aredefinitely controlled just prior to loading and during ,dlS-

charge of the dough lumps. 1

Y 9 Another objectis toprovide a fiexibleloop type of proofer with means to eflect a perfectly ti'medand :uniform -discharge. V These and other objectsare attained accompanying drawings, in which:

I Fig.2 is an enlarged elevatlonalcross sec-l tional-view looking from the opposite side fromFigl.

- Figs. 3,4 and are side elevational views showing a loop tilting mechanism in various I t 1 around sprockets 21 and 22. Thechains"then carry the conveyor'througha short ho'rizon-v tal loajding reach to sprockets 23 from which the conveyor'moves through avc'irtica'l'reach tothe sprockets 24 which establish the level positions during the discharge operation. 1 Fig.6 is afrag nentalsfrontelevationgpart 1y incross section, showingdetails of the loop:

conveyor construction.

. Fig, 7 illustrates anoccasional abnormal: positioning of loops or pocketsfo'rmingde tails of the invention."= r 1 f The proofe'r -of the presentinvention' isi preferably elevated above the shop floor at a suflicient height to permit, other cooperating machines of a chain of automatic dough working machinery,.to be installed beneath it. "A proofer casing 12 of the general con-,

struction shown in my Patent No. 1,656,890 is employed to; suitably'enclose a flexible pockettype or loop conveyor, which-consists 1,575,282 and 1,656,890. In the' -present'-construction,howevjer, the endless sheet-of fairly heavy and still "fle'xible material 15, such as v by the a means described herein 1 and disclosedin the I v tivelysecured to rods 17 by the two-ply canvas,-is positively secured by rivets r or screws 16 to the pipes or rods 17 which space .the chains 13. The pipes loosely re- I ceive extended chain pins 130, provided at intervals along the chains 13. The length d of canvas -between adj acent rods 17- is sulfidistu-rbing the texture of the skin formedjon" ing a'plurality of lumps of dough19. f v

"As explained in. my. prior Patent; No;

1,656,890, and'aswill-be clearly, understood from an inspection of Fig. 1' of the dr'awings' he'rein, the chains 13, carrying the/rods 17 from which the flexiblefma teria'l-i is vsuspended, pass alternately "in oppositefdirections overthe sprocketsto suc' cessively lower reaches within the casing, 'duringwhichinterval of travelthelumps of dough in the pockets oi" loop 18 areproved.

I The chains-ride upon supports 20' intermediate 'sprockets l i to preclude sagging there of under the weight of-the dough."- As best illustrated in Fig. 2,- the lowermost reach, of the conveyor, after'fpassing ,the "discharge position is directed downwardlyby passing.

the, chains, 13 over sprockets "l'40, -thence of the uppermost horizontalreach, within the proofing chamber. A-suitable intake re-. 5

ce'iveslumpsof dough and directs'theininto a suitable elevating mechanism 26 from which the lumps pass through a suitable'loading mechanism 27 'intothe pockets 18 as they. 0

move through, the loading reach 'between' sprockets22 and -23.- The-action'of the next,

ble, pockets 18 effects a gentle, intermittent rolling of the lumps in opposite directions as fully explained in myPatent No l 1,658,890.

The present' invention is directed especially toiimprovements in the means for positively controlling-and positioning the pockets atthe loading and discharge points while retaining the advantages of my said prior patents.

" To this end the flexible materialist-post" means 16 as the tilting rings will turn rods 17 in their bearings and definitely control and'positionthe connected ends of adjacent pockets so thatsuch pockets are definitely righte d for loading and inverted for discharging- As will be noted at the lower left hand side of Fig.2, the pockets 18 generally approach,

the sprockets 22 inthe same condition. or positionsthat they assume when carrying lumps of dough- Occasionally a pocket or loop will be in the position shown in Fig. 7. Theocca sionalabnormally positioned or inverted.

loop. is returned to normal position by; the. means now to be. described. An arm 31 carry:

ing a roller 32 is-urged by a spring33 so that the roller will encounter each of the tilting rings 28. and thusv effect amovement of the rods-.17 in. their journals for properly arranging pocket-s 18- in a receiving position. The loading machanism 27 may be of any suitable design. andit together with thedough elevating. means and the chains 13; of the proofing conveyor. are driven in synchronism. fromanotor 34 through a suitable'gear b02135. The. filled pockets now move upwa'rdly to the uppermost reach in the casing. and the lumps arecarriedbackand forth in the casing until they reach the dischargemecha-nism where the pockets are inverted by the successive movements of each rod 17. As will. be noted in Fig. l the pockets 18 each containing lumps of dough are inverted. but overhanging the foremost rod 17 as they approach the discharge mechanism, and the tilting rings 28 on the rods encounter the mechanism shown in Fig.3. Said-.mechanism comprises a pair of arms 36 and 37.. y The arm 36-haspivoted at its free end: a lever'38- which carries at its free end-a rotatably mounted star wheel39. A. spring40 connects an end of arm 37 and an intermediate point on the lever 38. An ads justableset screw41 is arranged to contact a rib 42 on arm 36 to limit the movement of a as lever 38 under the influence of spring 40 whereby the star wheel 39 is-kept in a suitable'elevation in the path of the tilting rings. The star wheel engages the periphery of each tilting ring as it ismoved forward during the continuous movement of the conveyor. A safety lug 30, while not essential, may be pro vided on each tilting-ring for; contact with the pointsjof the star wheel thereby assuring positive turning of the rods 17 and a conse: quent movement of the flexible material of the pockets which begins to unroll or open up theoverlapping or overhanging portion bars of .thelower or disc the follower .molderwhich would be the of'the pocket. The star wheel continues this turning movement on the tilting ring until the tilting ring is in such position that further movement of the tilting ring by contact thereof upon the disk or roller 43 causes the fiat face 29 to contact roller 43 and the tilting ring is moved to the position shown in Fig. 5 which is about 180 degrees from the position in which such ring is shown in Fig. 3.

There may lie-provided support bars 200, upon which theloops are supported when moving through the proofer and while the adjoimnglbops are in overlapping or overhanging relation. The support bars in the lowermost or discharge reach terminate at such place that the tilting rings contactwith the star wheel immediately before the loops pass from such support bars. The loop preceding; the loop passin from the support arge reach or level, istherefore free to. assume any natural posi tion that would result from the forces operative thereon.

.A-fter the tilting ring; has been moved to the position shown in Fig; 5, the fiat face on the tilting ring contacts a follower piece 44 mounted on arm 38 whereby the tilting; ring maybe moved ahead bodily while restrained in its position with flat face 29 uppermost. The rodsqor pipes 17 are so spaced that at about the time. one of the rods moves beyond piece,. the succeeding rod has been moved to such position that its tilting ring contacts the star .Wheel'. The, position of pockets as influenced by the movement of the tilting wheel and. rod 17 is best seen in Fig. 1 just above discharge chute 45, the adjacent series of pockets being there shown. in various conditions. 1 The dough lumps are discharged into chute 45. i From chute 45 the lumps drop to a suitable conveyor .46 by which theyare carriedawayfrom the proofer. The various parts of the discharge mechanism are sodesigned and related that adequate timeis allowed for each loop to discharge its contents, which invariably will comprise. a plural number of lumps of dough. Some lumps off dough. may be somewhat slower in leaving the loop or-pocket where fore the lumps discharged from each pocket are retained in-ethedischarge chute by a dis? charge plate 450-that is periodically moved to permit exhausting of the lumpsof dough from the discharge chute to conveyor 46.

The simultaneous discharge of thelumps of dough upon the conveyor assures even and proper spacingof the lumps of dough, whereby it may be possible to synchronize the proofer with other devices, for example, a next machine in the chain of operation. l

By the provision of. the tilting wheels and the means operating thereon just prior to leading andyduring discharge of the pockets it ispossible to proofthe lumps of dough au- "tomatically allowing the lumps to develop a surface skin or texture which is highly desir- 1 able and which is best obtained 'by the use of the flexible loop type of I and at the same time avoidany difiiculty in controllingthe pockets. The positive con- I trol of the individual pockets makes possible the eflicient synchronized handling of a large variety of sizes and kinds of dough lumps 0' et 363 which moves with gear362 moves the 461 to the pivotally mounted supporting withoutnecessitating any adjustments what ever.

As shown herein the synchronous action of all the parts is derived through the small 1110- tor 34 which drivesthe various gears in gear- 1 box 35.; Sprocket 350 with-chain 351 drives the proofer drive shaftl352 by way of gear 353. A small gear354 meshing with large gear 355 serves to turn sprocket 356 for moving the conveyor chain 13. In Fig. 1 it-will be seen that sprocket 22 has a gear 357 driving a gear 358 which efi'ects movement of a cam 359. The latter cam operates suitable arms whereby the loading tray 360 fills each of the pockets of the proofing conveyor they pass beneath. The dough elevator 26 is chain 364 in the'elevator 26. U

The discharge plate 450 controlling discharge chute {4:5 is periodically tripped synchronously with the movement of the pockets by means of a trigger 460 connected by links arms {162 of the plate; The rods supporting the pockets engage the trigger 460 for actuating. it. Aspring 463 equalizes the action V Ca-IIIGdthIOUgh a predetermineddistance of I of the trigger and discharge plate.

Discharge belt 46 is also driven at suitable speed and synchronouslywith the remainder of the devicesby means ofchain e64 operating on sprockets 4:65 and .466.- The former is driven by small gear 467 from gear 355; Bevel gears 468Ieffect "rotation of the drive pulleys for belt 4-6; .While but one practical embodiment of synchronous drive for the cm obtaining the properly timed tire device is shown herein,' it will be understood that other means'may be employed for movement and actuation of the parts.

. What is claimed is:

.1. In combination "a pair of endless chains, means to move the chains in unison through plurality of substantially parallel paths,

rods spacing the chains and mounted forfree oscillation therebetween,a tilting ring fixed a on each rod, a lever yieldably mounted ad- ;jacent the path of saidtilting rings, a star wheel mounted on the'lever for engaging the tilting wheel and eliecting rotary movement of the rod and means onsaid lever for retaining the tilting ring and its associated rod in proofing conveyor,

Sprockrods and tilting ring.

- 2;In'combinationl a conveyor comprising a pairi of chains arranged to travel 'throug a series iof horizontal reaches alternatelyin opposite directions; :rods rockingly mounted at opposite ends on said chains for movement therewith, flexible material forming nate reaches bodily overhanging one: of the rodsthereby retaining the load therein and means on the rod and 'at a Xed pointon one,

of said certain reaches for efiectingrotary ingperiod'of-bodily movement of thesaid movement of each successive rod wherebythe of travel.., 1 I

- lnucombination:aconveyor comprising the rods aneccentrically mounted cam fixed on each rod saidcams-each having a fiat faceand a projecting lug substantially oppositelthe fiatface,means for engaging the 7 lug on the camasthe pockets move with the endless movable members whereby the rods are turned in theirmo'untings and the att'ached ends of the pockets are moved thereby and means engaging the flat faces onthe cams for holding the rods in-a predetermined rela-;

tion' against rotary'movement' as said'rods are travel of the endless members.

4'; In; a proofer the combination of a pair a of endless chains constrained to follow a cirgcuitous path-through a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal reaches, rods extending between vand oscillatable on said chains,flexible andmeans comprising a camiring'on'each mostohorizontal reach for opening and posicontents of the pockets. w t a tively'inverting said pocketsto discharge the pockets fixed atopposite ends to adjacent rods and '2 depending normally I under their own weight and the load therein during their travel along alternate reaches, said pockets and the load thereinoverhanging theforemost of their respective attached rods during 1 travel along the remaining. reaches of travel 12s, a '5. In aproofer :thecombination of a pair of endless chains 'co'nstrainedto follow a circuitous path through aplurality of vertically spaced horizontal reaches, rods extending between and oscillatable on said'chains, flexible I a pair of endless'moving members, os'cillat; 9 able rods conneoted'between said membersat i intervals, flexible material fixed to the rods and having pocketsforming portions between pockets supported on and fixed at opposite ends to adjacent rods and depending normally under their oWn Weight and the loadtherein during their travels along alternate reaches, said pockets and the load therein overhanging the foremost oftheir respective attached rods during travel along the remaining reaches of travel, means comprising an eccentric cam ring on each rod and a yieldable non-traveling lever mechanism for imparting partial rotation to each rod at a predetermined point for opening and positively inverting said pockets to discharge the contents of the pockets, and meansto readjust said pockets to a normally depending and fully open position. a j

6. The combination with a conveyor comprisingspaced rods movable about their axes, means to move the conveyor through asuitable path alternately in opposite directions, and flexible loops supported betweensaid rods and fixed thereto, said pockets each adapted to receive a plurality of lumps of dough, of a discharge chute over which the pockets pass during movement of the conveyor,'a movable discharge plate controlling said chute, means on the rods whereby the rods may be turned'on their axes as the coin veyor moves through a horizontal path,

means adjacent the discharge chute for engaging the last mentioned means to turn the pockets successively to discharge position over the chute, means controlled by said rods for actuating the discharge plate and a second conveyor synchronized with said first mentioned conveyor and traveling beneath said discharge chute and plate.

7. In a loop conveyor for dough lumps. and the like the combination of spaced rods movable on their longitudinal axes, flexible loops each fixed to an adjacent pair of said rods, a member on each rod for turning the rod on its axis, and means comprising a pivoted lever having a roller for engaging and turning said member, and means on said lever for retaining said member in said turned posi- 7 tion for a predetermined interval of travel whereby the pocket fixed to an associated rod is invertedand retained for a time in said position.

8. In a loop type conveyor the combination with a series of flexible pocket members, oscil' latable rods having adjacent pockets fixed thereto, and eccentric cam Wheel on one end of each rod, and means comprising a yieldably mounted lever and a roller thereon for engaging the cam Wheel for eifecting movement of the rod to adjust the flexible pocket.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 22nd day of January,

' SIGMUND SCHIFF, 

